At the beginning of March, French post-prog quintet HamaSaari released their debut album, Ineffable. It’s our great honour today to premiere their brand new video for the album’s second track, “Crumbs”.
The beauty of “Crumbs” is that it keeps building and morphing, growing like a tree, its branches reaching in all directions. At the beginning, everything is simple, the dreamy keys lines kept grounded by the steady kick and bass, and the mantric, repetitive guitar. Just like the beginning of the video, the music feels golden, but autumnal; warm, yet with a foreboding chill, the colours not as bright as they once were. In fact, the scene chosen in the video, of the bridge and the river, perfectly complements the music – the bridge’s stability reflected in the kick, the slope of the bank in the bass, and the glittering river in the sweet guitar arpeggiations. The vocals float gently like petals, telling stories of times gone by, snippets of lifetimes.
A subtle shift leads into the chorus, which feels more dreamlike, less rhythmic. Melancholic guitar chords are overlaid with twinkling melodic droplets, the heavily delayed vocals forming a gentle blanket for the old man in the video to rest his weary head. More and more layers creep in, sweetening and thickening the sound – organ, keyboards, extra guitars. The drums and bass build, subtly but swiftly, until the song kicks off in earnest.
The riff is simple, an ascending flourish, made weighty with distortion. The vocals still sit on top, but carry a bit more urgency – a sense of sincerity. It’s almost a juxtaposition, this massive build in intensity put alongside very calm images of old men drinking tea, sitting outside a church, playing bowls with lemons, splitting wood – hand on, was that a pumpkin? As the music gathers in excitement, so does the video, becoming subtly more and more bizarre. Even the brief respite in the form of a mellower chorus feels odd paired with a shot of an old man carefully watering his pond. And it only gets weirder. As the distortion kicks back in and the drums take off once more, an old man is hugging his carefully shaped topiary bush, stroking it with a trowel. The song becomes ever denser and heavier, until the sweetness of the intro seems like a distant memory from a time gone by. Some of my favourite stuff happens in the last few minutes of the song, so I won’t spoil that for you – but remember, nothing lasts forever.
About “Crumbs”, HamaSaari say:
‘“Crumbs” is the second track from our second album Ineffable, and it deals with a generational conflict, the difference of values between an old generation, seeking for wealth and security, and young people, yearning for time and joy. It puts emphasis on the difficulties of living together when we can’t even understand each other.’
If you liked “Crumbs”, make sure you check out their other music videos through their YouTube channel, follow them on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their merch and upcoming tour dates on their website.
